


Love Has Got to Be a Word Made Up by Idiots

by OugiOshino



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Akihiko POV, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Twins, Aragaki Shinjiro Lives, Everybody Lives, F/F, For most of the fic, Hamuko POV, I'm sorry for all the tags, M/M, Marriage Proposal, POV Multiple, POV Third Person, Probably a little OOC, Shinjiro POV, Sort Of, Twins Minato and Hamuko, Velvet AU, at the end, but her name in velvet au canon is hamuko arisato, for a small portion, god there are so many relationship tags, he/they minato and she/they hamuko, it's complicated - Freeform, maybe? - Freeform, she gives him her pocket watch as like a friend thing, shinji lives because of hamuko, takes place in velvet au canon, techincally part of velvet au, technically, the SEES are a bunch of little shits, there's so many - Freeform, used the name minako in the tags, velvet au?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29793330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OugiOshino/pseuds/OugiOshino
Summary: Shinjiro finally wakes up from his coma after 18 long years, and he's got something important that he needs to ask Akihiko.[TAKES PLACE IN VELVET AU CANON, AFTER THE MAIN STORYLINE]
Relationships: Aigis & Arisato Minako, Aigis/Arisato Minato, Amada Ken & Aragaki Shinjiro, Amada Ken & Arisato Minako, Amada Ken & Arisato Minato, Amada Ken & Kirijo Mitsuru, Amada Ken & Sanada Akihiko, Aragaki Shinjiro & Kirijo Mitsuru, Aragaki Shinjiro/Sanada Akihiko, Arisato Minako & Arisato Minato, Arisato Minako & Sanada Akihiko, Arisato Minako/Iori Junpei, Arisato Minako/Iori Junpei/Yoshino Chidori, Arisato Minako/Yoshino Chidori, Arisato Minato & Sanada Akihiko, Iori Junpei/Yoshino Chidori, Kirijo Mitsuru & Sanada Akihiko, Kirijo Mitsuru/Saikawa Kikuno, Sanada Akihiko & Takeba Yukari, Takeba Yukari/Yamagishi Fuuka
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8
Collections: Velvet AU





	Love Has Got to Be a Word Made Up by Idiots

The two of them laid on the floor of Akihiko’s dorm room – it was never Shinjiro’s… after all, what was the point in going to a room that had been abandoned for far too long? They just laid there, neither of them saying a word. They didn’t need words to talk after all, they knew each other far too well. Words were never needed between them. But certain things had to be said out loud.

“Hey moron.” Shinjiro nudged Akihiko’s shoulder gently, rousing the other boy from whatever slumber he’d been about to enter.

“What?” He didn’t sound angry per say, just a little annoyed. And Shinjiro got why, he’d been woken up and quite abruptly. He would be pissed too.

“Ah… nevermind… it’s nothing.” Akihiko glared at him, punching his shoulder lightly.

“You wouldn’t have woken me up for ‘nothing’ Come on Shinji, you know you can tell me anything.” The silver haired boy then smiled, laying his head back to Shinjiro’s shoulder.

“I was just thinking…”

“Shocking. I didn’t know you could think.”

“Shut up idiot. Let me speak,” What were the right words to say here? Were there even any? “I was thinking… how long have we been together Aki?”

“Huh? Uh… since third year of middle school… so…. that would be three years.”

“Right… that’s kind of a long time. And I uh… well…” Goddamn words, they always escaped him when it mattered. Oh screw it, “marry me Aki.” Akihiko’s head instantly shot up and he grabbed Shinjiro’s shoulders, blushing wildly.

“I- w-what are you saying Shinji?! We can’t get married and you know why!”

“I don’t mean now idiot… I just meant like, later, sometime in the future.” Akihiko seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and laid back down, playing with a strand of Shinjiro’s hair.

“Well in that case… then yes.” Shinjiro pressed a kiss to his boyfriend’s forehead as the silver haired boy fell back into a peaceful sleep. A future with Aki… huh… that would be something.

”It’s a promise then.” No, he didn’t care that Aki was asleep and couldn’t hear him. A promise was still a promise.

The next morning, they were arguing. It always went like this. One of them got angry, they argued, they said things they didn’t mean, they made up, and then they made out. It was a never-ending loop. A loop that neither of them could break free from because they loved the other far too much.

“You know what Shinji?! I wouldn’t even care if you died tonight!” With that, Akihiko stormed out of the kitchen, leaving Shinjiro reeling in the wake of what had just happened. While Aki had gotten mad at him before, he’d never been that angry. That had been genuine anger with no regard for Shinjiro’s feelings. They’d fought before, but never like that. Never over something actually serious. And they never really meant what they said. But knew this time?

And by that night, he had been dead. The fight that morning…. the promise he had made Akihiko… didn't even matter anymore.

That had been so many years ago, far too long to even think about. And all that time, he had lost all that time. The hospital ceiling was bleak and boring, a deep gray that painted sorrow in the heart whoever was cursed with staring at it for hours on end. And unfortunately, right now that person was Shinjiro. It felt odd, like something was just out of place and he couldn't figure out what.

"Shinji!" The door to the room suddenly slammed open and that voice... he knew that voice, though it sounded different, older. While it was still the same, there was now this maturity to it. Akihiko ran to his side, gently running a hand down his cheek, “oh god… Shinji… I’ve missed you.” And then he kissed him… and oh… how he’d missed that feeling. Even if he hadn’t been conscious all this time, he had missed Akihiko, god he had missed him.

“Hey idiot.” Akihiko flushed before smiling. Had he always been so… well… simply put, Akihiko had grown up. While he was still very distinctly Akihiko, he **had** changed. Oh god. How many **years** had Shinjiro been asleep? There was no way that Akihiko could have changed that much in two or three years, so it had to have been a long time. But how long? Shinjiro was happy to see Akihiko but like… wow. His Aki had gone from that kid who punched things for fun to… to… whatever this was! And he had kissed him, looking like that! The very thought made Shinjiro want to go back to sleep, maybe forever this time. It was too much to process all at once. It was fine, all he had to do relax… but with Akihiko standing there looking like that, there was no way he could. In fact, that was probably the last thing that he was likely to do. So many feelings were rushing through his head, he could barely keep himself straight. And then there was the jealously. Akihiko had been out in the world for however long it had been having fun -probably fighting stuff- and meanwhile Shinjiro had been stuck in a hospital bed for all that time, goddamn asleep. And besides the burning jealously… he wondered… how had Aki not found someone else in that time? He still looked at Shinjiro so tenderly, despite everything that had happened. Tenderly, with just a small touch of sadness behind that. He had to have hurt Aki. There was no way that with what happened that night -October 4th\- that he hadn’t hurt him. Akihiko gently ran a hand through Shinjiro’s hair before smiling again.

“Come on Shinji, let’s go home.” Home? Did Shinji even have somewhere to go anymore? Ah well… it didn’t matter. Wherever Aki was, that was home to him.

A few days later, Shinjiro awoke in a cold sweat, having suddenly remembered something that he had promised Akihiko oh so long ago. Oh goddamit. How had he ever forgotten? Shit… there were so many problems he had with this, not mention that he wasn’t working yet. Akihiko would surely notice if he borrowed money from him. Which meant his only option was…

“Ah… Shinjiro. You’re desperate enough to go and beg at my feet.” He already regretted coming to Mitsuru about this. Akihiko had changed, but so had Mitsuru. And honestly, having known her for as long as he had, Shinjiro wasn’t too surprised she turned out the way that she did.

“Mitsuru… you know there’s no one else I can turn to,” She giggled softly, pulling her wallet out and passing him a few large bills. Oh boy, that was way more money that he needed, “ah this is…”

“It’s no trouble. However, you will speak of this to no one. You don’t want to be executed… do you?” Nope, Shinjiro was surprised at all that she had turned out this way. Forget what he had said earlier, Mitsuru Kirijo was the same as she had always been.

“Hey! Hey! Shinjiro!” A familiar brown-haired girl bounced over to him in the break room later that afternoon, giving him a friendly wave hello. Hamuko Arisato… someone he could almost call a friend, “soooooo… I heard from a little birdy that you want Akihiko-san to marry you. I wish you the best of luck… you’re going to need it. He hasn’t gotten any less dense over the years.” Shinjiro nearly spit out his coffee on the poor girl.

“W-who told you that?!” Hamuko tilted her head to side playfully, giving him a mysterious little smirk.

“Mitsuru, of course.” Of course… who else could have told her?

“Uh… excuse me… but…” A small voice spoke up from behind Hamuko, the timid blue-haired girl known as Fuuka Yamagishi raising her hand to speak, “I actually think that Akihiko-san has gotten denser. You need to be very direct with him.” Shinjiro opened his mouth to say something, but closed it right away. There was no need to ask that question again. The answer was still going to be Mitsuru.

“Hey! Shinjiro! Good luck!” Yukari waved at him from across the room and he flushed deeply, nearly crushing the hot cup of coffee in his hand. How many people had Mitsuru told exactly?

“Move,” Ken shoved him aside, grabbing a bagel before turning to look Shinjiro directly in the eyes. The kid had changed too, seemed more confident in himself, “take care of my father. And by my father, I mean Akihiko-san of course.” What a little **asshole**. None of these little shits had changed a single bit, other than their appearances.

“Lovely morning isn’t it,” Shinjiro recognized that deadpan voice and turned around to see the shorter of the Arisato twins, otherwise known as Minato Arisato, “good to see you again Shinjiro-san. Have a nice day.” Shinjiro faltered. If everyone else knew, including his twin sister, then why didn’t they seem to know? Ah well… Minato had always been something of a mystery.

“Will someone please tell me… what the hell is going on…?” He must have sounded like a broken man because they all started laughing. Yukari clapped him on the back so hard it stung and giggled.

“Oh Shinjiro-san! Mitsuru told us all what you’re planning.” Right…

“Mitsuru-san told you what? Aigis do you know what she’s talking about?” What was that little shit doing? Pretending like he didn’t know. Minato Arisato really was a mystery.

“Affirmative Minato. Mitsuru told us all earlier.” Minato shot a glare at Aigis before whispering something to her. She nodded in understanding, standing up and leaving the room with a quick nod of goodbye to Shinjiro. Everybody else glanced back at Shinjiro. Why were no secrets kept in this goddamned group? Life would be real easier that way.

“OOOOO!” Hamuko slammed the windows open and waved to somebody outside, “hey!!! Akihiko-san!!!” What? Akihiko was just coming in now? Had the rest of them just been absurdly early? How unusual for this group. With his attention caught, Akihiko glanced up at the window, waving a hello to Hamuko before heading into the building.

“Good morning!” The former SEES chimed in chorus as Akihiko walked into the breakroom – sans Shinjiro and Minato who took a long a drink of coffee before muttering out their own hello.

“Kind of weird that you’re all in here first thing in the morning, but good morning to you all as well.” Akihiko glanced at Minato, giving the smaller man a questioning glance, “that was weird… I know you’re always like this… but that was weird.”

“Got to live up to expectations Akihiko-san. I wouldn’t want your opinion of me to be lowered.” He reached up and patted Akihiko on the shoulder before running out of the room, the rest of the former SEES soon following after him. And just like that, Shinjiro was left alone with Akihiko.

“You left early this morning. You’ve never been a morning person before.” Aki was right, he **wasn’t** a morning person. He hated getting up early, unless of course it was out of necessity. And oh god, was that coffee starting to kick in making him shake or being this close of a proximity with Akihiko? “Shinji? You good? You’re shaking.”

“Fucking coffee. Don’t worry about me moron, just focus on your work.” Akihiko shrugged and headed out the breakroom after everyone else. Or what Shinjiro had though was everyone else. A familiar giggle came from the corner of the room.

“Shinjiroooo…” Hamuko smirked at him, playing with a piece of her bangs like they were totally innocent, “ehhehehhe. Don’t act like it’s coffee that’s making you shake. You’re all hot and bothered for Akihiko-san. Right?” This girl… thought she knew everything.

“Oh shut up.” She giggled, elbowing him the side playfully and knowingly. He didn’t mind the teasing all that much, they were sort of friends after all. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the pocket watch they had given him, he probably wouldn’t even be alive. In way, he owed his life to her.

“You know you love me Shinjiro.” She giggled again before grabbing another donut and running out of the room. Shinjiro sighed, dammit, she was right.

The rest of the day was torture. Telling Mitsuru had been a bad decision on his part. Because **apparently** , no one could keep a goddamn secret for five minutes. Not mention that Minato keep walking around and giving him these weird knowing looks, and their dumbass of a sister – no matter how much he cared about her – kept teasing him whenever she got a chance. It was starting to wear on his nerves.

“So… when are you going to propose to him.” Minato asking him that was the last straw. Shinjiro was honestly about to break. And the way that Minato said it, in that bored deadpan voice of theirs, only made it worse, “you **are** going to do it today… right,” At that, for the second time today, he almost spit his coffee on one of the Arisato twins. Minato smirked and turned his back to Shinjiro, heading off towards… somewhere, “my work here is done.” What an absolute little shit. Who let him walk around free like that? Shinjiro stared after Minato, absolute dumbfounded, with coffee dribbling out of the side of his mouth. Because while the other members of the former SEES knew… Minato **knew**. He knew like he could read Shinjiro’s goddamn fucking mind. Of course, that was ridiculous, Minato couldn’t read minds. He was just good at reading facial expressions and body language, at least that was what Hamuko had told Shinjiro once. Honestly… that was almost creepier than being able to read minds. Shinjiro didn’t want someone being able to tell how nervous he was just by a glance, it was weird. Then again, anyone could probably tell at this point. He was goddamn shaking. Or was that the caffeine? It was kind of hard to keep track whether it was from his nerves or the caffeine at this point. Goddamit.

Hamuko ran down the halls, humming quietly to themselves as she reached Akihiko’s office. She knocked lightly on the door before realizing that probably wouldn’t be quite enough and then pounding as loud as she could. Akihiko open the door, glaring at her with an annoyed expression on his face before he realized who it was.

“Oh hey Hamuko. What are you here to bother me about this time?” He opened the door farther to let her in and they slipped past him, taking a running leap and landing on the couch he kept in his office.

“Sooo… how about Shinjiro huh?” She waggled her eyebrows up and down, trying to get the dense dumbass that Akihiko was to understand what she was hinting at.

“Shinji? Well… I’m glad he’s awake.” They sighed to themselves. God Akihiko sure was dense. When would he ever understand something the first time it was said to him? How could one man be so stupid and gay?

“You know what I mean…” She stood up, elbowing him gently in the side, desperately trying make him get her point.

“You’re… god you’re so annoying.” They giggled softly, playing with pieces of their bangs that had fallen out of place. Oh and they knew that they only did it make themselves look more innocent. It was just part of their personality.

“It’s what I do.”

“Boy am I well aware of that. Now shoo.” She was promptly thrown out of Akihiko’s office. Ah well… Minato had always been better at gathering information. She just liked annoying people. Look nice, be gay, do crime. That was her motto.

By some miracle of nature, Shinjiro was able to make it through the entire day with Minato being cryptic as shit, Hamuko teasing him, and everyone just **knowing**. At this point, he just wanted to go home. Proposing to Aki didn’t even matter anymore.

“Shinji. You good?” Akihiko gently rested his hand on Shinjiro’s arm and that was when he finally broke. He practically collapsed on to Akihiko, who was, luckily, strong enough to hold him up.

“… No…”

“Oh! Uh! Anything you need me to do?!” Just him being there was more than enough, but Shinjiro couldn’t even begin to get those words out. Sometimes words were just too hard for him. And he knew Akihiko was confused. He knew Akihiko couldn’t even begin to guess what this was about… and thus was having his own breakdown since he could normally read Shinjiro’s thoughts so easily. And that was fine. Everything didn’t need to be fine. They could just kiss, and everything would be okay.

As soon as Shinjiro stepped foot into the breakroom the next morning, he was instantly assaulted by the former SEES members, all desperately asking him questions.

“Hey. Don’t bother him guys.” Thank god for Akihiko. Mitsuru walked into the room soon after that, shoving bagels into the mouths of the rowdy children that they considered ‘adults’ to quiet them down. Mitsuru really was the only true adult here.

“Now, if you _children_ would quiet down, maybe we could actually get our morning meeting started on time for once.” The meeting went by quickly and as it ended, Mitsuru pulled Akihiko aside. Shinjiro was just close enough to hear her tell him to talk to her in her office. As soon as they exited the room, the former SEES exploded with energy again. They all thought that he had actually proposed to Aki and hadn’t pulled the coward’s card.

“Hey… you guys realize that he didn’t do it… right,” Never in his life did Shinjiro think that he would be **thanking** Minato, their straightforward way of doing things, and the way that they could practically read minds. The SEES turned their energy on him like it was his fault that Shinjiro hadn’t fucking proposed, “what do you expect me to do?! I don’t control him!” That was loudest that he had ever heard Minato speak, and honestly, it was quite jarring. Just then - thank the heavens above - Mitsuru and Akihiko returned, instantly settling down the group of children and continuing the meeting.

“Hey Shinjiro, I’m really sorry about that. I wish they weren’t so rowdy first thing in the morning.” Mitsuru caught him in the hall after the meeting, bowing her head in a small apology, which she really didn’t need to do. It wasn’t her fault that they were like that.

“It’s fine.” It wasn’t really fine.

“They mean well, they’re just so loud sometimes. Oh, Minato used to be so much better at leading them.” Then why couldn’t he pull out that leader energy now? Maybe it was just because he was tired. Akihiko had told him what had happened to poor Minato. Shinjiro would be tired too if he were him.

“I said it’s fine.” It still wasn’t fine, but oh well… what could he do about it?

“No, it’s not fine,” She sighed, running a hair through her bangs, “I know you’re nervous, I was a wreck when I had to propose to Kikuno. But Akihiko cares far too much about you to say no. Trust me on this one,” She pulled out her phone, tapping on a few things real quick before nodding her head in satisfaction, “there we go. Why don’t you take Akihiko out for dinner tonight? And don’t worry, it’s my treat.” She was up to something. She gave him a small knowing wink before running off to go back to her work. Great… now he had no choice. That woman knew exactly how to phrase things to get her way.

Akihiko was surprised that Shinjiro asked to take him out to dinner that night, and even more surprised when the place they were going out to turned out to be not a ramen restaurant. Truly surprising for who he was with, but it’s not like he minded. The two of them ate in almost total silence, which was not that surprising considering Shinjiro. But lately, it had seemed like the brunette had had a lot on his mind. Almost too much. Akihiko could practically hear the gears turning inside his boyfriend’s head.

“Hey Aki…” Shinjiro spoke up quietly, refusing to make eye contact with Akihiko and instead glancing out the window at something.

“What’s up?” Akihiko had to hold back his dread. Shinjiro hardly ever spoke like that, all serious like. If he did, it was never something good.

“Don’t make that face moron. It’s nothing bad.” He breathed a sigh of relief, everything was normal after all. Then what could this be about? Shinjiro was almost making him nervous. The last time he’d been this serious about anything, it had been the night before he died. And Akihiko knew how that went. He knew all too well.

“You’ve got this look on your face Shinji… it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you this serious.” Shinjiro sighed, running a hand through his hair.

“Of course I’m serious idiot… this is about our entire future…” That was mumbled just loud enough for Akihiko to hear and nearly sent him reeling. Their future… come to think about it… Shinjiro had been talking about the same thing the night before… and it all came rushing back, memories that Akihiko had buried because they had been painful to remember. And he knew what Shinjiro was going to ask him next, “hey Aki. I know this is probably weird for me ask so straightforward like this, but… Akihiko Sanada, would you marry me?” Akihiko felt his face flush a deep red and tried to say something, but his brain wanted to shut down instead. He sat there silent for almost a full minute, seemingly unsure of what to say. But in reality, he knew what to say, he’d known his answer for years.

“I… Shinji… don’t you know I’ll always say yes when it’s you by now?” Both their nerves seemed to instantly settle in that moment. And the love between them was all that remained. Akihiko was more than happy enough to spend the rest of his life with Shinjiro, and he knew that Shinjiro felt the exact same way. He remembered that Shinjiro had promised him forever a long time ago, and while Shinjiro probably thought he didn’t remember because he’d been half asleep, he did remember that night oh so many years ago.

Akihiko woke up later, having realized something important. Today – or well yesterday now – had been October 4th. Ah well… at least he had something happier to remember about it now.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank sprinto and my own perseverance for making me right this fic in one go. And thank you to my friends too. Love you guys.


End file.
